PEJABAT MAJLIS PIMPINAN NEGERI PAHANG DM

Monday, May 30, 2011

REFERENDUM

The REFERENDUM On The setting Up and Operation Of Lynas Advance Material Plant (LAMP) in Gebeng Kuantan

By The Concern citizen of Kuantan

30th May 2011

On behalf of approximately 700,000 citizens that reside within the 30km radius of Gebeng;

We begin by quoting the following exert from an article titled The issue of residual Thorium & Uranium from Rare -arth Ore Processing Posted by Jack Lifton on March 11, 2011 @12:25pm in News Analysis, Rare Earth

"In the rare-earths sector a very important and under -reported story is coming to the surface. a senior executive at a rare-earth industry said to me at PDAC in Toronto earlier this week that the 800 pound gorilla in every rare-earth venture's room, was the radioactive thorium and/or uranium-bearing waste that will be generated by the extraction, separation and refining operation that are the supply chain steps immediately following mining and mechanical concentration.

It is my understanding that Lynas' first business plan for the Mt Weld operation put out 2005 called for only raw ore to be produced in australia. Every further step in the supply chain was, in that plan, to be done in China and at that conclusion the idea was that China would either ship finished rare-earth metals to Lynas' customers or buy the rare-earth metals at that; point or earlier in the supply chain from Lynas. This original Lynas plan faltered on the failure of the Chinese to give guarantees that the ore would remain the property of Lynas, after Chinese work product was added to it. Chinese law on the ownership vested if the goods were imported, and this made institutional investors gun-shy of the project.

One of the major advantages of Lynas' original plan was that any radioactive residue would have been a Chinese disposal problem and in those days the chinese were more flexible about that than they have now become".

OBJECTIVE

We are aware that the IAEA expert panel is here in Malaysia to investigate the health and safety aspects of LAMP, specifically to review the radiation safety aspects of the facility in relation to relevant international radiation safety standards and good practise.

We are also very aware of the fact that the panel will not engage in policy type of discussions.

How ever the arguments that we are putting forth in our representation today, will be to put across a strong message to the panel that whatever technical solution and recommendations being proposed to the goverment of Malaysia by the panel of international experts at the end of this fact finding mission with not function as a working model here in Malaysia.

Recommendations on LAMP's safety does not rest on technical recommendations and puts but rather must be on a holistic approach on the moral ground by putting people's safety, health and lives above others.

1. HEALTH CONCERNS

The information contained in the above article is not of a a new discovery. We, the Kuantan Concern Citizen are very much aware of the hazzard that lies in the rare earth processing industry which has cause a bad mark in the history of Malaysia. during the 1980's a similar industry, where a company by the name of Asian Rare Earth (owned by a Japanese company, Mitsubishi corporation) had cause a disastrous and irreversible impact to humanity and surrounding ecology. Many children and adults succumbed to illness caused by cancer which includes leukemia and the like. There is also living proof of children who were born deformed or mentally handicap. Cases of fetus which died during pregnancy were also recorded. The village was somehow deserted and not livable. The clean up of the radioactive waste had just been taken recently by the goverment and the owner of the company and cost the owner over RM300 million

Lynas which do not have any track record in processing rare earth prior to this, to this date had not been able to show any concrete measure in the handling of the radioactive waste generated from the separation process in Gebeng, Kuantan.Although Lynas and the Malaysian goverment tried to downplay the amount of thorium generated by claiming that the ore from Mount weld contains less thorium in comparation with the ore used by Asian Rare Earth, the volume that LAMP proposed to process here in Gebeng are many times more than of Asian Rare earth.

We have no doubt whatsoever that the total accumulated thorium will be very much higher than what wasproduced in Bukit Merah. Lynas's claims on having the best engineering practice and safer processing technology were never proven as ther is no existing LAMP anywhere prior to this nor is ther any existing refinery outside China which can be benchmarked to.Until today, Lynas has failed to produced a concrete long term radioactive waste management plan.

Considering the overall harm and damages that can be caused by thorium and many other element produced such as uranium waste, radon & thoron gas, and many other hazardous chemicals used in the process, we strongly believe that this facility is not safe.The magnitude of damage to mankind and the environment will be enormous. It will cause an irreversible impact to the community. we definitely will not allow ourselves and our future generation to be the GEUINEA PIGS or LAB RATS to the massive experiment which Lynas plan to conduct on humanity. It is morally wrong and a violation of human rights to living a healthy live, to begin an operation on a process which is not proven to be safe especially so when it is near to residential areas in a densely populated area within it's 30km radius.

History has shown that industry owner will easily get away from their liability and responsibility because it is not easy to prove that any health impact in future is directly link to their waste generation due to the lack of enforcement in our country.We certainly refuse to shoulder the risk of the harm that this plant poses to our health and the environmental threats to our future generation.we do not want our homeland to be the dumping ground of an irresponsible business entity. Economic gain shal NOT and NEVER take priority over safety and health of human being.

2. ECONOMIC CONCERNS

Kuantan is a tourist destination with beautiful beaches and scenic sight. Many of the local residents immediately next to the LAMP site thrive on the tourism industry by being proprietors of budget hotels and homestays as well as managing the seafood industry to cater for the needs of locals and tourist alike. At the same time Kuantan also harbors one of the largest fishing port in Malaysia which registers more than 390 deep sea trawlers at it's docks. That stigma that this industry brings will bcertainly bring a heavy blow to the local residents and Kuantan will not be an attractive destination for tourist anymore. Even right now as we sit here in this meeting, the prices of property in Kuantan have spiraled down. Not to mention the cost of health insurance that will be burdensome to the Kuantan tax payers. The Kuantan Local Council has signed an undertaking to adopt the Local Agenda 21 in support of sustainable development way back in the year 2001.Thus, approving LAMP without prior consultation with the public and stakeholders in Kuantan is a totally unacceptable act and contravenes the principles of sustainable development adopted in Local Agenda 21.

3. LAX ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS

Specifically with regards to this industry. Malaysia does not have stringent environmental law to protect our Environment. Even the regulator for LAMP project will be the AELB (atomic Energy Licensing Board) as compared to the EPA in Australia or the US.

4. ENFORCEMENT ISSUES

There are always issues regarding slack enforcement as well as corruption in this country (the Corruption Perception Index for malaysia being at 56 out of 178 countries is testimony to this fact). Even if malaysia imposes fines on Lynas (a 100% Australian owned company) for non compliance, whatever the amount will be peanuts compared to the total export value RM8 billion a year that Lynas will be enjoying.

5. LYNAS'S CREDIBILITY AND INTEGRITY

Lynas's credibility is greatly questionable

i) Even in Australia, Lynas has a record of non compliance to the safety standards set in the original works approval for (Environmental assessment Report - Amendments to work approval W4440/2008/1 regards tailing stroge facility of their Concentration Plant in Mt Weld)

ii.) Lynas has been misleading the public by providing the Malaysian public as well as the malaysian authorities with incomplete or skewed information.

iii) Lynas is using Chinese standards in malaysia as opposed to what they claim that they adhere to strict IAEA standards. By using vhinese standard (GB9133-88), they get away with their claims that the waste is NON RADOACTIVE since the specific radioactivity level of their waste is at 61 Bq/g (the limit in Chinese Standards is 748Bq/g while the limit in Australia and by IAEA standard is 1 Bq/g) The RIA report dated June 2010 comfirms the specific radioactivity level of the waste.

6. SIGNED PETITION

From the Kuantan Folks.

copies of 51,000 plus petition collected from Kuantan alone (from 15th Matrch - 30th May 2011) suffice to impress upon the panel the grievance of the Kuantan public. This forms an integral part of the referendum.

EXPECTED OUTCOME

The citizens of Kuantan are not opposed to development. However, we would like to assert strongly that the development we desire is in form SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT.

Therefore,we demand the goverment of Malaysia to stop Lynas from operating its rare earth processing plant in Kuantan or anywhere in Malaysia.We do not have faith that whatever recommendations given by the panel can be and will be complied to.We do not want to face a radioactive problem in our backyard when Gebeng is turned into an onsite radioactive waste dumping ground for LAMP forever. we certainly do not want to subject ourselves or our family members to severe health threats while Lynas make their way to the bank, laughing.

Our expected outcome from your mission here in Malaysia will be that we expected you to advise the goverment of Malaysia as well as the state goverment of Pahang that they have made a mistake in giving approval for LAMP to be contructed in Gebeng. Never the less it is not too late for the malaysian authorities to make the right moral decision for the Concerned Citizens, all 700,000 kiving within 30km radius of LAMP which is NOT to ISSUE an operating License due in September.

I also trust that the panel will make its decision based on conscience, putting lives and environment first before profits, as the live of the citizens are of paramount importance, priceless and totally not negotiable.